The Time InBetween
by Lucathia Rykatu
Summary: The time period between Rikkai's two matches with Seigaku was filled with Yukimura's plans for victory, Yagyuu's standoffishness, and Niou's desperate attempts to make someone change his mind.


The Time In-Between

by Lucathia

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince of Tennis and make no profit from writing this.

**Notes:** This was written for ketchupblood for the switching_it_up community on livejournal.

* * *

Yukimura returned near the beginning of August. They threw him a celebration in their club room, confetti flying the moment their captain walked in the door. Silence engulfed them as they waited for Yukimura's reaction. When their captain brushed the confetti off his jacket without uttering a single word, none of them dared to breathe.

Finally, unable to wait any longer, Kirihara took the plunge.

"Welcome back, Yukimura-buchou!"

As if a dam had been broken, various choruses of similar messages followed right after. Yukimura breathed in the familiar scent of his clubroom, so different from the sterile hospital he had been confined to in those long months without tennis, and allowed himself a small smile as he looked each of his regulars in the eye. Each of them, from Sanada who stood by their trophy display with his arms crossed, to Marui who was seated in front of a gigantic cake celebrating Yukimura's return, possessed a gaze that promised victory, that told Yukimura that this was where he belonged.

"I'm back," he declared. He watched as grins spread over their faces. Cake was passed from one person to the next until everyone had a share. Marui's super large slice for himself caused Jackal to shake his head, and it also earned him cries of _no fair! _from Kirihara and a muttered _tarundoru_ from Sanada. While eating his cake peacefully with Yanagi, Yukimura noticed Niou swapping his plate with Yagyuu's since Yagyuu's slice had more cream. When Niou turned to grab himself a fork, Yagyuu had already swapped his plate back. Yukimura watched the cake pass between them in amusement. In his absence, Niou and Yagyuu had gotten a lot closer than he remembered.

The celebration only lasted half an hour before Yukimura booted everyone out onto the courts. He pulled his jacket close to him and closed the door on the festive moment they had just shared.

There was absolutely no time to waste when Nationals was right around the corner.

* * *

The school in summer echoed with its emptiness, but the courts were a different matter all together. Although he was still recuperating, Yukimura was already on the courts, watching and analyzing and coaching. The rhythmic sound of tennis balls being hit and the harsh, reprimanding yells when mistakes were made could be heard way before the courts came into view. In that corner of the school, there was no such thing as rest or vacation.

Yagyuu wiped his sweat before he served once again, his serve flying across the net. The smirk on Niou's face was Yagyuu's only warning before Niou returned the serve with a drop shot that put the ball in the front of the court, a shot that wasn't possible if Niou hadn't predicted where Yagyuu's serve was going to land. The return was too shallow for Yagyuu to reach, but that was what his partner was there for.

"Like hell I'm letting that score!" with that outburst, Kirihara dashed over to Yagyuu's side of the court and parried the shot back. Unwilling to let Kirihara best him, Marui hit a volley so that the ball rolled across the net in the direction opposite from Kirihara's step. With a frustrated yell, Kirihara pivoted and leaped for Marui's shot.

Playing against Niou and Marui as a pair tested Kirihara's patience. Neither of them were hitting normal shots that Kirihara could slam back. Yagyuu could only watch as Kirihara stamped his feet in frustration since Yukimura had forbidden Kirihara from whacking the net. One glare from Yukimura had chased away all thoughts of damaging tennis club property.

While Kirihara's two devious sempai toyed around with him, Yagyuu took the chance to hit a laser that screamed past Marui and landed so closely to Niou's feet that he couldn't return it cleanly.

Yagyuu fixed his glasses and smirked. Across the net, Niou raised his racket at Yagyuu. The challenge was more than welcome.

Marui rolled his eyes.

"Better focus, Akaya, or else they'll cut us out of the game!"

* * *

After practice ended, Yagyuu put away his racket and got ready to go to the library with Kirihara. Niou fell into step with him with his tennis bag swung over his shoulders.

"Library again?" he asked in a bored tone while looking up at the sky. "First tennis, and now you're even sticking around with the brat after practice?"

"Kirihara-kun's English still needs a lot more work," Yagyuu replied. Yukimura had been appalled when he learned that Kirihara was in danger of failing English. His red marks should have landed him in remedial courses over the summer, but Yukimura managed to waive his attendance, putting it off until after Nationals ended, on the condition that Kirihara would be studying on his own. That was where Yagyuu came in.

"Are you coming along with us?" asked Yagyuu when Niou continued walking with him. "You could take this chance to get your summer assignments out of the way."

The look on Niou's face told Yagyuu more than enough about what Niou thought of that idea, but despite his immediate reaction, Niou still tagged along for some reason. Yagyuu looked at him with raised eyebrows but didn't think too deeply about it. Despite Niou's nonchalant attitude, Yagyuu knew Niou studied and completed his work ahead of time so that he would have the leeway to be flippant later on. Niou's almost daily phone calls to Yagyuu about schoolwork attested to that.

At the library, Niou scribbled away at his math homework with little care about his penmanship. Once he finished, he tucked his pencil behind his ear and leaned back with his legs propped up on the table, hands behind his head. His chair threatened to fall with how far he took it. He pulled at his collar and fanned himself, glad for the cool air conditioning of the library that made the place a haven safe from the simmering heat that plagued the outdoors.

Yagyuu looked over with pursed lips but chose to ignore the distraction Niou provided. Instead, Yagyuu turned his attention to what Kirihara was writing. Kirihara's English was truly a lost cause. Yagyuu took out a green pen and proceeded to circle all of Kirihara's mistakes. When he handed the paper back to Kirihara, almost the whole page was covered in green.

The second year groaned. "Yagyuu-sempai, you're gonna make me hate the color green!"

Niou snatched the piece of paper out of Kirihara's hand and laughed, his chair thumping loudly as its front legs finally touched the ground. "Seriously, Akaya, you can't even translate _where's the fucking bathroom?_ You're gonna have problems when you go traveling."

Kirihara scowled since Niou's English had completely gone over Kirihara's head. "What'd you say!"

Yagyuu handed another piece of paper to Kirihara with more drills. "He was swearing at you."

Kirihara swiveled around to glare at Niou.

Niou merely laughed at Kirihara's gullibility and Yagyuu's deviousness.

That night, Niou called Yagyuu on the phone just like what he always did even though there weren't any classes to talk about. Yagyuu didn't realize, however, that it was always Niou who made the calls.

* * *

Their days continued in a similar fashion. They rotated partners in tennis practice, went to the library after practice, and Niou would call Yagyuu at night. Sometimes during practice, Yagyuu even found himself playing singles against one of the big three. With Yukimura's return, the dynamics of the team changed once again. Although his return should have signified there was one less single spot open, Yukimura strongly believed that all of them needed to be ready for whatever position was necessary to guarantee them the championship.

When he wasn't playing singles, Yagyuu often found himself paired with Kirihara, so much that Niou had thought it necessary to comment about it.

"Aren't you spending a bit too much time with Akaya lately?" Niou mentioned.

Yagyuu didn't pause in changing. He continued to unbutton his shirt. "I could say the same about Marui and you. Asking me is no use. You should ask Yukimura."

When Niou didn't reply, Yagyuu took his silence as acceptance.

"Are you coming with us to the library today?" asked Yagyuu after he had finished changing. The question had come so easily to his lips because he asked the same thing every day. Niou never answered yes or no, but he always ended up coming with them.

This time, however, Niou shook his head after a short pause. "Nah, I've already finished all of my assignments. You have fun with the brat."

Yagyuu nodded absentmindedly and shut his locker. This was what he had expected all along.

* * *

Yagyuu didn't know about it, but Niou had taken Yagyuu's words to heart. Although Yagyuu had mentioned asking Yukimura, he probably didn't think that Niou would go out and do just that right away.

"What's with these doubles combinations?" Niou asked outside their clubroom. "And why are you making Yagyuu look after Akaya? Isn't that Yanagi's job?"

After he finished locking up the clubroom, Yukimura glanced back at Niou.

"I knew you would notice, but I didn't think you'd ask so soon."

"Of course I'd notice when Akaya's practically Yagyuu's shadow now!"

"Anything wrong with that?" asked Yukimura. He placed his racket bag down, anticipating that this would be no short talk. "Yagyuu's good at looking after people, and Akaya needs it."

Niou huffed.

Yukimura chuckled. "Let me guess. You'd rather you were the one Yagyuu's looking after?"

"Where the hell did that idea come from?" replied Niou immediately, appalled. He usually had a pretty good poker face - his smirk was all he needed - but Yukimura had completely ripped that away without any warning.

Yukimura had a knowing look in his eyes. "I'm not blind, Niou. Aren't you tired from always being the one who initiates your encounters? I have to admit that I didn't think Yagyuu would take your approaches so well though."

Niou fell silent. He didn't think he had been that obvious, and Yukimura was nothing but blunt. He kicked a stray pebble in his frustration.

"What are you trying to pull?" he asked.

"Nothing. You just have been paired with Yagyuu too much in these past months. You two are becoming predictable. We can't have that."

Niou had a lot more to say. He wanted to tell Yukimura that this was their last year. This was the last time he'd be able to play doubles with Yagyuu, and without tennis to connect them, there was little they had in common. He knew Yagyuu was a whole lot more than the gentleman facade he tried to pull - what kind of gentleman would let his opponent take a hit in the face - but tennis was what provided Niou the opportunity to approach Yagyuu. They weren't even in the same class. He was already trying his luck calling Yagyuu all the time, pestering him with questions about upcoming tests when they belonged to different classes. It was a wonder Yagyuu hadn't caught on yet.

Above all, Niou wanted to tell Yukimura that there was no way he and Yagyuu would ever become predictable. That was what drew Niou in, the fact that Yagyuu should have been boring but always proved Niou wrong.

Yukimura crossed his arms. "I know what you're thinking, Niou. But I have no need for players who can only play with one person. I also have no need for players who let emotions cloud their judgment."

Niou stared at Yukimura with hardened eyes.

"What can I do to make you change your mind?"

* * *

Nine days before Nationals, Yagyuu went to the ABC open finals by himself. He hadn't invited Niou, and Niou hadn't gotten into Yagyuu's personal space to remind him to invite him along. Niou figured this was what would happen when he wasn't throwing himself at Yagyuu at every opportunity, and he was right.

While Yagyuu was away, Niou threw himself into practice instead. Niou pictured Tezuka's drop shot in his mind and mimicked the movement. He imagined the stoic Seigaku player taking a step back, the ball coming to him as if he were the center of the world. Only thoughts of tennis ran through his mind, a blessing given how much a certain gentleman troubled his thoughts without even knowing he was the cause of Niou's turmoil. What kind of gentleman was he to cause someone so much grief without tending to it? Yagyuu was no gentleman - he just liked to appear like one, always keeping people at arm's length, Niou included.

When Yagyuu returned and told tales about Seigaku's Kaidou, Niou didn't react. He knew Yagyuu could play doubles with just about anyone, and he knew the trickery that Yagyuu sometimes displayed wasn't his influence. It had always been there. Yagyuu had only needed an excuse, and Niou was that excuse. Niou took reassurance in the fact that Yagyuu and Kaidou could swap clothes all they wanted but never reach the level of Niou's illusion, nor could they replicate what Niou and Yagyuu had pulled in their match against Seigaku's Golden Pair.

Niou didn't show Yagyuu his new move. They had been double partners and were teammates, but more than anything, they were also rivals, and this was his hidden ace. There was no one Niou liked to study as much as Yagyuu, Yagyuu being the one that had started it all, that had made him more than a mere trickster. He was an artist, an illusionist, a painter that governed the courts that was his canvas. Yagyuu was one of the objects of his study, one that Niou painted over and over and over but could never get right. Niou tried to convince himself that that was all Yagyuu was, but he couldn't stop himself from wanting to be on the courts with Yagyuu once more. Problem was, Yukimura didn't see any benefit with pairing them up. Niou had every intention to make Yukimura change his mind.

* * *

Five days before Nationals began, Atobe paid Rikkaidai a visit and challenged Sanada to a match. Yagyuu watched Sanada dominate the match until Atobe seemed to see through Sanada's weaknesses. Before Atobe could make his comeback, Yukimura lowered the net and turned Atobe away, saving Sanada from what Yukimura claimed would have been his loss.

Even in unofficial matches, Yukimura permitted no losses.

When Yagyuu looked Niou's way, Niou had a gleam in his eye that indicated he was planning something. Yagyuu felt the corner of his lips lift at the sight. He had missed that scheming look of Niou's.

* * *

Two days before Nationals, Niou still hadn't managed to take his Illusion to the next level. He could become Tezuka and Shiraishi with no problem. They were both strong southpaws he had studied with the understanding that they'd be useful. The problem was, the only right-handed player Niou could become was Yagyuu, and that had become Niou's crutch.

At the moment, there was no other right-handed player Niou wanted to imitate more than Yagyuu, but it wasn't a matter of what he wanted. It was a matter of necessity.

* * *

The night before Nationals, Niou called Yagyuu even though he hadn't called since he stopped going to the library. Niou wondered if Yagyuu even noticed.

"Niou-kun?" came Yagyuu's voice over the phone.

"Yagyuu," Niou drawled.

"Did you forget something?" asked Yagyuu, confusion coloring his words. He was probably wondering why the hell Niou was calling when they had only just parted ways an hour ago.

Niou wanted to hit something, preferably Akaya's head, but he let that pass.

"No, was just thinking about tomorrow."

"Ah, Murigaoka? They take pride in their data gathering ability, but they have nothing on Yanagi-kun. We'll demolish them."

Niou listened to Yagyuu's promise of complete domination and felt affronted that Yukimura had thought it necessary to rewrite their lineup into something so completely absurd to deal with the data gathering team. Niou had complete faith that even if Murigaoka anticipated Niou and Yagyuu's combination, they would never be able to fathom the depths of what they could do together. Yukimura, however, wasn't one to take chances. He believed in absolute victory.

"And Niou-kun," said Yagyuu right before he hung up, "I don't mind if you call more."

Niou looked at the phone he held in his hand in amazement.

* * *

On the first day of Nationals, everything went according to Yukimura's plans. They played Murigaoka in the second round. Jackal was up first in singles three, just about only time he had ever been placed in singles. The jaws of their opponents dropped comically when they saw who their first opponent was. Jackal easily won the match.

When Niou and Marui stepped onto the courts next, Niou saw flabbergasted expressions come over the Murigaoka players. The players hurriedly whispered to each other and were gesturing frantically, protesting that this wasn't what the data had mentioned. Niou glanced to the side. Both Yukimura and Yanagi looked smug and satisfied. Niou grudgingly admitted to himself that it was hilarious watching just how shocked their opponents could get.

"Don't you drag me down," Niou told Marui as they got into position.

"Shut up. We'll finish them in no time," Marui retorted.

They plowed through their opponent and won in straight games.

Yanagi won singles two without breaking a sweat. Next up was Yagyuu and Kirihara in doubles one, which should have again shocked their opponents, but Yagyuu's opponent grinned instead.

"I know _all _about you-"

Before his opponent could even finished that sentence, Yagyuu shot a laser right past his grinning opponent's ear, wiping the grin right off.

"T-That's the laser? That's completely different from what I saw at the ABC open!"

Yagyuu pushed his glasses up.

"Did you think I would reveal my hand in front of you so easily?"

Niou grinned.

Despite how well they did, Yukimura still berated them, especially Sanada. But it didn't matter. They won without dropping a single game, and they'd continue winning. With how quickly they had finished, they had plenty of time to watch Seigaku's match against Higa. While Niou watched Tezuka play against Higa's hitman, he updated the data he had on Seigaku's captain. It would become useful later on.

* * *

When they returned to school for last minute practice, Niou challenged Yukimura to a private match. Watching Sanada's match against Atobe had given Niou an idea. Yukimura permitted no loses even in unofficial matches. If Niou could win a decisive point against Yukimura, Yukimura would have to admit that Niou was capable of winning no matter what position he played and who he played with.

Niou breathed in deeply and imagined himself as Sanada. There was no such thing as nonsense in his vocabulary. He permitted nothing but strictness.

Yukimura's eyes widened when Niou's version of Sanada's fire came hurtling at him. Yukimura felt the heavy shot against his racket, but he managed to return the shot with a grunt.

"Impressive," Yukimura said afterward. "But Sanada won't do."

"Is that so?" murmured Niou. "Then how about this?"

Niou adopted Yukimura's stance, letting himself feel that absolute need for victory. The battle began once again.

After ten minutes of nonstop rallying, Niou dropped to his knees, his breathing labored. Even battling Yukimura as Yukimura hadn't gotten him the point.

Yukimura came over and extended his hand.

"You're one dangerous player, Niou. You surprised me."

Niou let himself get pulled up.

"See? I will never become predictable." He pointed at Yukimura, daring him to contradict him.

"You didn't have to go so far," said Yukimura. "You're playing doubles with Yagyuu tomorrow."

Niou's heart thumped.

"What about after tomorrow?"

Yukimura folded his arms.

"That skill of yours. I need it in singles."

Niou covered his eyes. He should have known this was what would happen. The perfect plan wasn't so perfect when victory was the goal. There was nothing Yukimura wouldn't use for the sake of victory, and none of them, not even Niou, could ever say no to their captain.

* * *

On the second day of Nationals, Yagyuu and Niou played in doubles two against Kabuto. While they played, storm clouds were rolling in, but their match was far from turbulent. Niou didn't have to pull any tricks. Yagyuu barely used any finishing moves. They played together like they hadn't played apart in those days leading up to Nationals. They completely destroyed their opponents, leaving no room for any doubt that the match could have ended differently. Yagyuu nodded towards Niou, and so ended their match.

The rain came pouring down after they annihilated Kabuto.

"That was disappointing," Yagyuu said. "For our last match together, that was rather a lackluster one, wasn't it? Our opponents weren't nearly challenging enough." He rummaged in his bag for his umbrella. He pulled it out and invited Niou to share. Niou was already completely soaked. Parts of his now translucent shirt clung to his body. Streaks of rain trailed down his face, and his long hair was plastered against his neck.

"Was this it?" asked Niou from underneath Yagyuu's umbrella.

"You mean doubles with me?" asked Yagyuu.

"Yeah..."

"Perhaps officially it is, since you know Yukimura has every intention to put us in singles."

Niou didn't reply. Yagyuu moved closer to Niou when he noticed the rain drip onto Niou's shoulder.

"But shouldn't you be happy? I always thought you wanted to play singles," commented Yagyuu.

Their partnership wasn't a given one like Marui and Jackal's with their offensive and defensive play styles that matched perfectly. Niou had been the one to approach Yagyuu at the start, suggesting they partner up so that they'd have a chance at the regulars when the singles positions were already taken up by the three monsters in their club. The addition of Kirihara had only made cementing their doubles positions even more important.

Somewhere along the way, however, Yagyuu had gotten used to his partnership with Niou. Doubles with Niou made him feel alive. It made him think and consider tactics that would never have crossed his mind if he hadn't been paired with Niou. But Yagyuu had always known their partnership wasn't something that'd last forever. Doubles would only tie Niou down when Niou was much better suited for singles.

"Whoever said I wanted to play singles?" Niou muttered.

"...pardon?"

"Singles is boring," admitted Niou. He squeezed the water from his hair, the water dripping down his shirt.

Yagyuu had to agree.

"Tennis is boring without you, Niou-kun," Yagyuu said.

When Niou looked at him in wonder, Yagyuu smiled and leaned over.

"Whoever said I didn't want to play doubles with you?"

* * *

Despite what they both thought, Yagyuu was slated to play singles three against Nagoya Seitoku. More than tennis, Yukimura wanted him to be an actor.

Yagyuu shared a secret grin with Niou, the best he could make of the situation.

"Watch me, Niou-kun."

And so Niou watched. If he hadn't already known that Yagyuu was acting, he would have believed that Yagyuu truly was losing. Yagyuu was that deceitful. The lasers he hit seemed to be as deadly as ever, but his opponent thought he was weakening as the match wore on, until finally, the laser was returned and Yagyuu lost the match.

Marui and Jackal lost their match as well, but if everyone had watched as closely as Niou, they'd have noticed that neither of them were truly out of breath. Kirihara, however, had been tricked.

"Y-Yagyuu-sempai, what'd they just say?" asked Kirihara from the ground, blood smearing onto the courts.

"Are they really last year's champs? In our country, even elementary school kids play better than that seaweed-haired bastard...is what they said."

Niou held his laughter in when Kirihara turned livid. The kid never learned. All those English lessons in the library hadn't done him any good. Yagyuu was still too funny.

* * *

In the three days before their rematch with Seigaku, Yukimura assigned Niou a task. He was to study Tezuka thoroughly because there was a high possibility that Niou would play against Fuji, and even if his opponent weren't Fuji, Tezuka was someone that all of the members of the Seigaku team had a hard time against. There was nothing more satisfying than winning against the opponent with their own moves.

"Marui and Jackal are in doubles one," complained Niou as he rallied with Yagyuu.

"Be glad you're even playing," said Yagyuu.

"Yeah, yeah..."

Yagyuu had known it'd come to this. With Yukimura in the lineup, Yagyuu's only chance had been in doubles, but Yukimura had decided to put Yanagi and Kirihara in doubles together instead. That left singles, and between breaking up Niou and Yagyuu versus breaking up Marui and Jackal, the former was the obvious choice since both of them were better single players than either Marui or Jackal.

And then, between Yagyuu and Niou, Yukimura had chosen Niou.

Part of Yagyuu wondered if he should have done more so that Yukimura would have considered him for the last crucial match instead of using him in a fake tennis match. To think that staged match with Nagoya Seitoku was his last match only brought to mind regret and dissatisfaction. To think that short, easy match against Kabuto was the last doubles match he'd get to play with Niou only made him feel lonely.

But none of them, not even Yagyuu, could have said no to their captain. Yagyuu, however, strongly believed that there was more than just tennis between him and Niou. Even without tennis or doubles, Yagyuu saw Niou in his future after tennis. He had felt safe letting Niou take the lead, but if Niou ever stopped coming to him, Yagyuu was going to make every effort to make Niou look his way again.

"When did you come up with such a technique?" asked Yagyuu when Niou fully became Tezuka and began pulling all the shots towards him.

Niou would have scowled if he hadn't adopted Tezuka's expressions, but since he was Tezuka, he gave a straight answer.

"I wanted to convince Yukimura to put us in doubles. That backfired." Niou hadn't wanted to reveal his skill to Yagyuu so early on, but Yukimura had assigned Yagyuu to help Niou hone his skill. Niou knew that Yukimura was trying in his own way to make up for things, but it still wasn't the same.

* * *

The night before their rematch with Seigaku, Yagyuu called Niou instead of the other way around.

"Niou-kun," said Yagyuu over the phone. "Good luck. Go out there and win. Win for both of us."

He didn't have to add _win for the team, for Yukimura_, because there was no one in Rikkai who didn't already think that way.

Niou went to sleep that night dreaming of victory, of Yukimura's pleased smile, and of the innumerable days with Yagyuu that were still to come.

* * *

the end

Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear from you even if it's just a short comment!


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